Bad Reputation (Shawn Mendes)

thirty four

Me and Tom arranged to meet up and have a drink. I had to tell him, he's a great guy but I can't string him along, not now that me and Shawn are together. I met him at my favourite cafe, we ordered our drinks and then sat at a table.
"Hows school going?" He asked.
"It's so fun! I've met so many amazing people and I'm learning so much."
"Mom says you've made some great progress."
I turned my head slightly. "You talk to your mum about me?"
His face turned red. "Maybe."
I paused for a second. "I think your great, I really do, you made me feel so welcome into your mums school and I am so grateful for that, but-"
He cut me off. "I know."
"You know what?"
"I know what you're about to say, I'm not stupid. You and Shawn are together so you're calling things off with me."
I didn't say anything.
"It's fine, we never put a label on us. Plus I don't wanna stand in the way of something that could be amazing for you."
"What do you mean?"
"Shawn is a good guy and you clearly like him a lot. I don't wanna get in the way of that."
I smiled, that took guts. We carried on talking until he finished the rest of his drink.
He stood up. "If you ever need someone to beat you at laser tag just text me." He gave me a quick wink and then walked out of the shop.
I finished my drink and then headed home in slight shock of what just happened. When I got home I decided to watch a film. Halfway through Shawn rang me.
"Hey."
"Hey, I wanna do something today, do you have any ideas?"
"Um." I thought for a moment. "I've always walked past that mini golf place and never actually gone in, can we?"
"Mini golf it is, how much time do you need to get ready?"
"About an hour."
"I'll pick you up at 4."
"See you then." I put the phone down and then started to get ready. I didn't really need an hour to get ready I just wanted to finish my film. I picked out some ripped jeans and tucked my bright yellow sweater into them. I then braided my hair into a French braids and put on some light makeup. When Shawn knocked on the door I shouted goodbye to my parents and we headed to mini golf. When we arrived we were given a ball and a club each, Shawn got his phone out and teased me because I had to get a shorter club but the jokes on him because he doesn't know that I'm actually pretty good at mini golf.
"I'll let you go first." Shawn said.
I placed my ball on the ground, then gave it a gentle tap just enough to get it in the hole.
"Thanks for letting me go first." I smirked and then wrote down my score on the paper.
Shawn then took his turn. He placed his ball on the ground and then lined his club up with it. He gave it a gentle push but it wasn't enough so his ball rolled up to the hole and stopped just before it.
I let out a small chuckle.
He gave me a glare and then hit it again just enough this time for it to roll into the hole. I wrote down his score and we moved onto the next hole.
There were 18 holes in total and they got harder as we went along. I managed to pot all my holes in 4 tries and under however Shawn on the other hand barely potted his with 4. I lost count of the amount of times he missed the hole or didn't even hit the ball. After we added up our scores we handed in our balls and clubs in and then walked home.
I turned to Shawn. "So what do I win?"
"What?"
"I won, so what's my prize?"
"What makes you think you get a prize?"
"Whenever me and my family played mini golf the winner always got a large slushy drink."
"Are there even any shops here that sell them?"
I looked around and spotted the infamous blue and red machine in a small shop down the street. "Bingo." I pointed to it. "Where there's mini golf there's always slushy drinks."
I grabbed his hand and dragged him into the shop. He got me a large mixed slushy drink and then we carried on walking home. The walk home wasn't too long and I liked looking in all the shop windows as we walked past them. One shop window displayed what looked like old jewellery and they were all pretty expensive. As I scanned through all the jewellery on display my eyes I came across a ring. I stopped walking and stared at it. "Oh my god."
"What?" Shawn asked.
"My grandad used to have a ring exactly like that."
"Really."
"He had one exactly like it. He used to wear it all the time, he even made my grandma promise that she would bury him wearing it when he passed away." I laughed. "He never took it off."
"He seems like a great guy."
"He was."
His face dropped.
"He passed away last year."
He gently took my hand in his. "I'm sorry."
"He was my hero." I could feel my cheeks get hot. Don't cry. I wiped away the few years that escaped my eyes. "My mum moved in with my grandma and stayed with her for a few weeks after, she needed that. Every now and then I will look at her and she has the saddest expression on her face, they were married for 50 years and my grandma always tells us stories about them two, how they met, their first date."
"Why don't you buy the ring?" He asked.
"Have you seen the price?"
He looked at the price and immediately his eyes widended.
"Yeah." I sighed and then carried on walking.
As we were walking back Shawn got a text. He stopped.
"What is it?" I asked.
He smirked and showed me his phone. "Some of the guys from hockey are having a party tonight, do you wanna be my plus 1?"
I pulled a face. "Plus 1?"
"These parties aren't just any parties, theres a guest list."
"Oh."
He looked up from his phone. "You down?"
"Hell yeah."
He dropped me off home and arranged to pick me up for 9 tonight. As soon as I got in I went straight upstairs to sort out my outfit. I took out braids I did earlier out of my hair and ran my fingers through it letting them drop.  When Shawn text saying he was outside I headed downstairs to say goodbye to my parents.
"Bye."
I got into Shawn's car and put my seatbelt on.
He stared at me for a second.
"What?" I asked.'
"My girlfriend looks hot."
"Thank you." I gave him a cute peck on the lips "She thinks you look hot too."
"You ready to go?"
"Yep."
We drove to the party and on the way he gently rested his hand on my thigh. After we parked we got out and walked hand in hand to the door. Shawn told the man who he was and the man crossed his name off his list, he was being serious there really is a guest list.  As we entered the party Shawn kept hold of my hand so he could guide me through the groups of people. We made our way to the drinks table and he poured me a drink. "So what makes these parties are different to others?"
"Nothing, the guys on the hockey team are just extra."
I laughed and then took a sip of my drink. Syd and Dan found us shorty after and we all stood talking.
"Jazz don't look but there is a really hot guy checking you out over there." She pointed to where he was with her eyes encouraging me to look. I looked over and saw an alright looking guy. He looked me up and down then gave me a wink.
"Oh my god! I am introducing you." She grabbed my hand.
She pulled me into the crowd of people he was standing with. I looked over at Shawn and he was gave me a confused look, I shrugged my shoulders and carried on. If I refused Syd would know something was up. She introduced me to him then left us alone. I looked back and saw Shawn had gone. His name was Luke and he seemed nice, a little too flirty maybe but I wouldn't cancel him out. We moved over to the couch and spoke for what felt like ages. I wasn't really concentrating, I was too worried about Shawn. Was he mad at me for talking to Luke?
Just as I was about to end the conversation with Luke a text came through on my phone.